The present disclosure relates to a display device and an anisotropic scatterer. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to an anisotropic scatterer used to let a scattering characteristic of light in a display region of a display device have angle dependence, and a display device that includes an image display section using such an anisotropic scatterer as mentioned above.
A reflective image display section that displays an image by controlling a reflectance of outside light is known. For example, a reflective liquid crystal display panel includes a reflector electrode or the like that reflects outside light, and displays an image by controlling the reflectance of the outside light by a liquid crystal material layer. Since the display device that includes the reflective image display section displays the image by utilizing the outside light, it is allowed to attain power consumption reduction, thickness reduction, and weight reduction and hence it is used, for example, as the device for use in portable terminal.
The display device that includes the reflective image display section is allowed to increase the reflectance for a predetermined view position by letting the scattering characteristic of light in the display region of the image display section have angle dependence, thereby to compensate for a reduction in visibility due to a reduction in reflectance incidental to displaying in color and to hinder the image from being viewed from a position deviating from the predetermined view position. A display device that a directional scattering film is disposed on a front surface of a liquid crystal panel as an anisotropic scatterer is described, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-110055.